It's a bird, it's a plane, it's super … nope it is indeed
just another low flying plane buzzing over our tranquil rural area. Private
aircraft traffic has been increasing as more and more people are learning to
fly and purchasing planes primarily for recreational use. Add to this mix the
increasing numbers of business utilizing their own aircraft for business
travel and you get some explanation for the steadily expanding air traffic
over our neighborhood. We are of course blessed (?) with having the Boulder,
Longmont, and Jeffco airports all within a stone's throw (plane-wise) from
us, and all seeing major increases in usage. For example, the Longmont
airport is projecting substantial increases in traffic and has already
obtained FAA funding to enhance the facilities to be able to attract and
serve more traffic, including business aircraft.

In our
rural area where the ambient noise level is usually quite low, the noise from
planes is annoying and intrusive unlike in more urbanized areas where the
ambient noise is high enough to usually mask private aircraft noise. The
bothersome flights include straight fly-overs by planes skimming the
treetops, planes repeatedly doing maneuvers over the same place such as turns
and stalls, and stunt practicing by aerobatic planes doing things like loops
and powered dives. Much of the time these offending pilots are in violation
of specific FAA regulations, or at least universally recognized safety
guidelines, and certainly lack some measure of consideration for those below.
According to those pilots we've talked with, flying low can be a lot more fun
than at higher altitudes, even though it is obviously more dangerous since
any significant mechanical malfunction or pilot error would likely lead to a
most unpleasant encounter with terra firma. As far as the practicing of
maneuvers is concerned, the attraction to our area seems to be the thought
that there is nothing really down here, other than a big chunk of basically
unoccupied government land (Table Mountain), a few houses, and maybe some
cows and horses. In the case of aerobatic flights, the designated area for
such practice is up by Lyons, not our neighborhood, but of course, that
doesn't keep it from happening.

Of course not all
pilots are irresponsible and inconsiderate in terms of our concerns. Some are
unaware of the problems they are causing. Some, though, truly don't seem to
care, asserting a right to fly pretty much wherever and however they want as
if it were the last bastion of freedom in the land. And, fortunately, we have
found some who are genuinely sensitive to our issues and even wanting to work
with us on this issue.

Private aviation is historically
very well organized on the local, regional, and national level, and has
worked, usually effectively, over the years against efforts to mitigate noise
problems whether thru equipment modifications or mandated changes in flight
behavior such as increasing minimum flight altitudes. And even the FAA which
is in charge or regulating and enforcing flight practices etc. is also
mandated to promote aviation, help it grow and prosper, and therefore is
reticent to tighten up regulations, institute new requirements, or even
enforce existing regulations without a lot of prodding.

In order to deal with this we are working to form a coalition
consisting of area neighbors, some of the above
mentioned 'friendly' pilots/flight instructors, and members
of the scientific community who work on the Table Mountain facility itself,
under the authority of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce.

We
will be developing a flyer to be distributed to the airport managers and
facilities operators at the local airports expressing our concerns about the
noise issue and requesting the pilots to avoid our area where possible,
especially in terms of low flying, repeated maneuvers, and aerobatic stunts.
The flyer will make clear the seriousness of our concerns and the breadth of
our coalition.

We also are exploring the possibility of
having the Table Mountain facility designated as a restricted air space which
would result in higher minimum flight altitudes in the area and in practice a
significant likelihood of many pilots avoiding the area altogether. The only
other similar federal facility in the country has such a restricted flight
designation.

All of us can help by reporting offending
planes/pilots to the FAA, but identifying the planes is difficult as well as
knowing just when they are flying "too low". The present minimum flight
altitude over our area is either 500' or 1000' depending on how densely
populated our

area is considered to be. This is
definitely a fuzzy issue, open to various interpretations. However it is not
unusual for planes to fly below even the 500' level, a clear FAA violation. A
plane was recently observed actually doing a quick landing on top of Table
Mountain by one of our pilot/instructor friends who works at the facility -
how's that for a low flight! To help aid us in knowing just what a plane at
500' and 1000' looks like, we will be conducting an 'altitude test flight'
where we fly over the area at these altitudes and allow residents to see how
this looks, takes pictures for future reference and so on. Speaking of taking
pictures, we have heard that any decent camera, fast film, and a telephoto
lens can capture the identification number of the planes which is required to
be on the side, even when you can't see it yourself. This is part of what we
will want to check out in our test flight.

Any of you
concerned about this issue and interested in being involved in any aspect of
what we are trying to achieve, including our little test flight which will
probably be in a month or so, please contact us - we can certainly use your
help, participation, ideas and suggestions!